Watermelon, ginger and lime juice

Very refreshing, and the ginger gives it a bit of a kick. A bit fiddly though, so ideally multiply up the quantities and make a batch to share. (In that case I'd only use 1 lime for every 2 servings, you should still get enough of the lime flavour.) Alternatively, add vodka to help it to go further!

Makes: 1 serving
Takes: 10 minutes

Ingredients

1 wedge of watermelon (about 1/8 of a watermelon)
1 lime
1 piece of stem ginger from a jar of ginger in syrup
1 tsp syrup from the jar of ginger
Vodka (optional)

Method

1. Remove the rind and seeds of the melon and cut into chunks. Grate the zest and squeeze the juice of the lime. Cut the stem ginger into two or three pieces.
2. Place the melon, lime zest and juice, ginger and syrup into a blender, blend until liquid, then press through a sieve. Add vodka if you wish.

Lemonade

Proper, traditional, still lemonade. You might want to adjust the proportions to suit your taste - this makes quite a 'zingy' drink, so I'd add extra water if making it for children. It does need to be drunk while fresh as the pith will make it taste bitter if you keep it too long.

Makes: 1 generous glass
Takes: 5 minutes

Ingredients

1 lemon
1/2 pint water
1 tbsp caster sugar (or more to taste)

Method

1. Cut the lemon into quarters (no need to peel it or remove the pips!) and put into a blender with the water and sugar. Blitz for about 10 seconds.
2. Set a sieve over a large bowl or jug and pour the lemonade through the sieve. Press down on the pulp with the back of a spoon to squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Taste and add more sugar if necessary.

Obviously it's easy to increase the quantities to make more servings!

Banana, honey and oat smoothie

Smooth, creamy and filling :-)

Makes: 1 serving
Takes: 1 minute

Ingredients

1 ripe banana
1 heaped tbsp oats
1 tsp honey
some milk

Method

1. Peel the banana and break it into 3 or 4 pieces. Put it into a blender with the oats and honey and add some milk. Blend until smooth.
2. Er.... That's it!

Sorry I can't be more specific about the quantity of milk, I basically just pour it in till it looks about right, but it must be about a cupful. You can use any kind of milk (full-fat or lower-fat cow's milk, soya milk, rice milk, almond milk, etc) - my own preference is for skimmed. A bit more milk will make a slightly thinner smoothie; the way I make it, it turns out the thickness of a McDonald's milkshake!